When Orphans Become Children

March 26, 2018 Michelle Cuthrell

When orphans become beloved CHILDREN, it looks like THIS.

Joy, JJ, Leia, Jason and Dana, after two wild and wonderful weeks with their forever families in China, now HOME in their family’s arms.

Did you miss their journeys as they met and got to know the courageous families who crossed oceans to change their stories?

It’s not too late to like or follow the Of Capes and Combat Boots Facebook page, where we’ll continue to update you on the stories and victories of these children who today are no longer faceless files or orphanage statistics, but cherished, loved, treasured sons and daughters.

Welcome to America, sweet superheroes. We’ve been waiting far too long to SHOW you how much you are loved. <3

The Day That Changed Everything ... and Why We Need Warriors More Now Than Ever

July 12, 2017 Michelle Cuthrell

Last Wednesday, countless adoptive families around the world were still dreaming about and preparing for their future children.

They were completing homestudy visits.

Applying for background checks.

Hosting fundraisers.

Praying for their Chinese-born superheroes.

And in a split second last Thursday, everything changed.

I spent what I thought was any other summer day at the lake with my superheroes and my friends, and by the time I dried off and picked up my phone that afternoon, my iPhone screen was overflowing with notifications.

Missed calls. A never-ending log of unopened texts. Facebook messages.

Contacts from devastated families.

Totally unaware of what had thrown countless families we know and love into total chaos, I went to our agency’s website … and found this.

A notice that on Thursday morning, the CCCWA in China had sent an announcement to all international adoption agencies that work inside China notifying them of new eligibility rules for adopting families.

Effective immediately.

The Expiration on the Evacuation

June 28, 2017 Michelle Cuthrell

This post is the fourth in a month-long series on the Miracle of Dunkirk, a call to all-in, bring-your-boat, daring and courageous orphan care inspired by the But If Not campaign of Sage Harvest Gourmet Jerky. Join the cause to stage the NEW greatest rescue mission in modern history — the Miracle in China.

Nine days.

That’s how long the Allied Forces and merchant marines and British boat-owning citizens and every kind of volunteer vessel captain took to evacuate more than 338,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk before German forces captured the beach port.

They didn’t have weeks. They didn’t have months. With advancing German forces, they didn’t have the luxury of time on their side.

The more than 700 to 800 British boat owners who mounted a flotilla of unconventional maritime vessels to SPEED to the beaches of Dunkirk had nine days before the more than 350,000 Allied Forces surrounded on that famous beach in France became casualties in what could have been one of the deadliest battles in World War II history.

But because these brave boat owners understood the urgency of the situation — because they saw the dire circumstances and said yes despite the danger — they changed the story ending for 338,000 troops who had no hope without their participation in these service members’ lives.

Like the British Admiralty who stared out onto the soldier-saturated beaches of Dunkirk and called for back-up and for help, we, too, are sounding the alert, because we, too, have a dire situation on our hands.

There are more than 600,000 orphan superheroes whose special needs are just superpowers in disguise now stranded on the beaches of China.

Shorebound: The Ones Who Missed the Miracle

June 21, 2017 Michelle Cuthrell

This post is the third in a month-long series on the Miracle of Dunkirk, a call to all-in, bring-your-boat, daring and courageous orphan care inspired by the But If Not campaign of Sage Harvest Gourmet Jerky. Join the cause to stage the NEW greatest rescue mission in modern history — the Miracle in China.

I haven’t been in a boat for years.

As a little girl, my daddy used to take my sister and me canoeing at least twice a year — back in the days of Indian Princess camp-outs and father-daughter outings.

It was one of my very favorite things — being out on the water with the man who was my childhood hero, using teamwork to propel our tiny (and easily tippable) canoe from one side of the lake to the other, basking in the sunshine as we observed turtles and frogs and the troves of lost sunglasses and hats that had washed up on the shore.

It’s one of the memories that truly marks my mind’s version of childhood.

So for Father’s Day, the boys and I decided canoeing was exactly what we wanted to take the fathers in our life to do.

On Sunday, we loaded up two canoes — one with Super-Spouse and two boys, the other with my dad, Superhero 1 and me — and spent two hours paddling in the afternoon sun around a local lake we’d not yet had the chance to explore.

We giggled as we watched Superheroes 2 and 3 learn to use oars.

We snickered as another superhero almost got caught by explorers when he docked his boat ashore to pee on what he thought would be an uninhabited piece of land.

We got stinky and dirty as we rowed in boats with boys who didn’t get the concept of keeping the paddle in the water.

And we just basked in the beauty and fun of adventure and teamwork and togetherness in the loveliness and serenity of the lake.

As we rowed and explored and played and laughed, I noticed others at the lake who hadn’t gotten into the water.

The ones still sitting on the shore.

They Said Yes

June 14, 2017 Michelle Cuthrell

This post is the second in a month-long series on the Miracle of Dunkirk, a call to all-in, bring-your-boat, daring and courageous orphan care inspired by the But If Not campaign of Sage Harvest Gourmet Jerky. Join the cause to stage the NEW greatest rescue mission in modern history — the Miracle in China.

They owned a boat, and they said yes.

At the most basic level, the Miracle of Dunkirk occurred because more than 700 to 800 boat owners heard the need, responded to the call and got in the water to be part of the rescue of nearly 350,000 Allied Forces who had been cut off and surrounded on the beaches of Dunkirk … and who, without being evacuated, would perish.

The 338,000 Allied Forces didn’t survive the Battle of France because these civilian boat owners were well equipped.

They didn’t survive because their rescuers brought the best ship captains with the most experience with the best boats fitted with the best resources.

Some 338,000 Allied Forces lived because ordinary people got in ordinary boats and trusted an extraordinary, “but if” God to USE THEM to do some out-of-this world, extraordinary things.

When it comes to the battle for the 600,000 mostly special needs orphans living in social welfare centers in China, not all of us can be on the front lines, but all of us can do something.

If we want to see the Miracle in China, we’ve got to be willing to get in our boats and say yes to our God — no matter the size, condition or experience of our boats. We need to do it with courage … or just courageously do it afraid.

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